Why dont the county board elect a person of the main committee to chair a hurling board made up of members from all hurling clubs elected from each club as their hurling board rep,that allows the chair to report back to main committee whilst handing the running of hurling over to the people who really care about it, the clubs..the hurling interests is under represented as is and thoes poor men must be banging their heads against a wall during meetings by people who just dont care,an hour and a half spent talking over football then ten minutes for hurling would put anyone off going to these meetings,it really is time to make a stand here,dont go quietly,let the hurling people run our hurling not the once a year steak brigade.

THE.SHAFT (Down) - Posts: 198 - 23/01/2014 19:22:06    1535870

THE.SHAFT you speak a lot of sense, unfortunately thats the problem…..you are talking sense, but the football fraternity don't give 1 hoot about hurling never mind 2 hoots. The leagues have been a farce for years anyway so why should the big wigs sit up and give a dung about the hurling now. Like imagine if we had won an all-Ireland in our respective grade (cough,cough)….oh thats right, good oul Christy ring….Christy Ring he pucks the ball - we puck Christy, ball and all. Here's up 'em all say the boys of Fair Hill.

grandagrokepoke (Down) - Posts: 347 - 23/01/2014 20:19:55    1535915

It should be about inward development, i.e they should have a clear schools development system, with a clear plan on developing the game in down. All this changing leagues to bring players on is utter nonsense.If you are a cack handed slow hurler at youth level you will probably be the same come senior.
You get what you put into it and its clear that some clubs do well with very little resources, i point to the fact liatroim and ballela (for example) produce a few good hurlers and theyd be a match for the ards sides when they click. Same with bredagh (albeit theyre a city club with huge resources) who have came on leaps and bounds in a short space of time. Underage carryduff showing signs of good things and they got a junior championship & few underage titles.( a great achievement from only a decade of hurling in the club)
There is a base that can be worked on in down elsewhere where we have hurling tradition but every time it begins to raise itself from the mire the board seem to do their best to put it down.
I dont understand the attitude, what is so wrong that lads want to hurl in a football club? whats so wrong having a hurling side alongside your clubs football? even if its just a junior hurling side? seems to be ridiculous that football clubs can have all these numbers and time and time again i hear of clubmen trying to raise it in their own and are told to go jump as soon as its mentioned.
I can guarantee if it was allowed to flourish, the hurling could easily co-exist alongside football in down no bother. It seems to me to be that its not a lack of interest, its simply not being allowed to play the game.

Croke Park should be informed of this farcical setup in Down, to have a team and a hurling fraternity within the county that are All-Ireland champions, after years of trying and hard work treated in this manner is disgusting.

Anyone who thinks the Ulster League is a good setup needs their heads looked at. Id have backed a combined league between us and armagh to supplement the games currently in Down. You couldve played the larger distance games in terms of travel on a saturday e.g ards/kilclief and an armagh side, leaving the senior lads in the ards free for their game on the sunday. ( i know the problem of the reserves league in antrim but that really isnt much of a priority)

To develop the game in likes of cavan they shouldve combined their leagues with donegal&monaghan and played within that setup.

Seems the most illogical setup is the one that has came to fruition, who honestly thinks that Carryduff fancy running to COOTEHILL and MULLAHORAN? Crazy.

DownAndOut (Down) - Posts: 344 - 24/01/2014 08:43:12    1535992

'Speaking to the Mourne Observer, Monan admitted that the win had renewed interest in the small ball game, which was great for the county.'Yea, yea, yea and wot interest has the boord shown........yea we'll do away wit the 2 hurlin leagues. Well done chairperson & secretary, do they ave any other great ideas!!!

cahill (None) - Posts: 2567 - 24/01/2014 12:56:54    1536109

'Speaking to the Mourne Observer, Monan admitted that the win had renewed interest in the small ball game, which was great for the county.'Yea, yea, yea and wot interest has the boord shown........yea we'll do away wit the 2 hurlin leagues. Well done chairperson & secretary, do they ave any other great ideas!!!

cahill (None) - Posts: 2567 - 24/01/2014 12:56:54    1536110

I agree with your post DownandOut.. Everything seems to change on a sixpence mainly driven by the County Board who obviously neither have the appetite or the knowledge to promote hurling in county Down. I believe there is sufficient talent within the county to develop hurling to a decent level. Realistically this will take time to happen, subject to the hurling committee/board being prepared and run correctly. In the short term the Ulster League should help the non Ard's clubs to play more meaningful matches and may help bridge the gap to the Ards teams.. There are some strong teams to play especially in the top 3 divisions that otherwise wouldn't be available in an exclusive Down league at the moment.. Long term goal should be a strong Down league set-up.. On top of the 10 odd Ulster league Games I understand the Down league (McKrikard/Betsy Gray) will have around 6 or 7 matches plus championship so that's a minimum of 17 games which is plenty.. I don't understand why hurling games in Down are played on Mondays as it de-values the league.. At least the Ulster league is not affected or working around an football agenda when it comes to fixtures.. In any county where both codes are strong most games in both codes are weekend games.. If a game clashes (rarely happens) let the player decide.. Maybe hurling Friday/Sat and Football sun etc..
I think it's time for the Hurling committee/club chairperson's etc. as well to stand up and be counted within the Down Co Board, and if required use the support available from the Ulster and GAA National boards who in fairness are fully engaged with developing hurling in weaker counties..

dingle82 (Down) - Posts: 231 - 24/01/2014 13:24:45    1536125

Dingle,
Are 17 or 18 hurling games a year enough to develop? I think not and it wouldn't be tolerated by the footballers and it shouldn't be tolerated by the hurlers!!

I think it's time for the Hurling committee/club chairperson's etc. as well to stand up and be counted within the Down Co Board, and if required use the support available from the Ulster and GAA National boards who in fairness are fully engaged with developing hurling in weaker counties..

I've had a good laugh at that, since when did the Ulster council care about hurling period and Croke park thinks and acts like hurling only exists in 8 or 9 counties, the rest don't matter...


I don't understand why hurling games in Down are played on Mondays as it de-values the league.. At least the Ulster league is not affected or working around an football agenda when it comes to fixtures.


Just you wait and see how many games are actually played in this years UHL......

bricktop (Down) - Posts: 2503 - 24/01/2014 14:25:17    1536159

They should look at games development at youth & schools level, anyone with sense will know without a solid foundation at youth level teams will fold and the county can all the adult league setups they can imagine and it wont make a pick of difference.

Works for the footballers doesn't it?

DownAndOut (Down) - Posts: 344 - 27/01/2014 10:10:26    1537103

The problem is that the county board do not have the time or resources to run hurling themselves. They discovered this early on after disbanding the hurling board and have now shifted responsibility to ulster....total and utter disgrace and farce.

Gaelforce1 (Down) - Posts: 36 - 28/01/2014 13:27:30    1537791

If no counties in the north bar Antrim have no leagues then this spells the end of hurling up here, few yrs down the line ulster counsel will get fed up with it to... you just have to look at the ulster final this yr or should I say last years...

LPD83 (Down) - Posts: 7 - 28/01/2014 16:13:31    1537889

ULSTER IS THE BEST THING TO HAPPEN TO DOWN HURLING,it will bring on the non ards clubs as the antrim league as done for Bredagh and make the county team stronger which is good.ards should join ulster league aswell.

nosides (Down) - Posts: 239 - 28/01/2014 21:42:52    1538088

Nobrains,
Bredagh get regular games at a good atandard in the Antrim league, they're putting in the effort and if they keep going will reap the rewards.
N.B. the most traveling they'd do is maybe an hour or so up to Carey or Cushendun, unlike the Ulster league where they'd possibly be shooting over to Donegal, Cavan or Tyrone.

The Ards clubs can't join the Ulster league as currently the games are on the same days as the Antrim league....

On the non-Ards clubs and improvements due to different opposition, I'd hold my fire on that one, wait till Kilclief need to set off to Tyrone or North Derry on a saturday afternoon or sunday...

bricktop (Down) - Posts: 2503 - 29/01/2014 09:34:27    1538122

No Sides - or should I say "No Sense" - are you having a laugh??
You put down your own argument with your own comment! If Antrim League have brought the Ards teams and Bredagh on, why don't the other teams in Down then enter the Antrim League as it prooves to be a success? If Ards teams were to enter the Ulster League, it would mean their teams playing at a lower standard, and the level would drop in Down. Maybe thats what you want - rather to increase your own standard, to reduce that of your opposition!

Pulltheball (Down) - Posts: 56 - 29/01/2014 09:37:56    1538124

Agree that the Ulster league is a good thing for the south Down clubs. Distance wise its probably better for most clubs except maybe one or two. There will generally be 2 away matches more than 2 hrs drive otherwise the other away matches are within the 1 hr mark. This will help to even the odds against the Down clubs (Bredagh & Ards 2nds) who joined the Antrim league in relation to amount of matches and standards etc and that's only fair i think. There will be more willingness to play the Ulster league than the Down matches aswell due to mainly weekend games. It will also help the county team as well if there are more decent/progressing hurling clubs spread through out the county as opposed to just pockets.

dingle82 (Down) - Posts: 231 - 29/01/2014 10:39:16    1538168

Lets not forget the likes of Paul Sheehan will in all probability be lining out for Down hurlers, can Newry afford to be without the likes of him?

I'm looking on in interest as all the Derry clubs are dual clubs and I can't see them being released for the UHL, we live in hope.

bricktop (Down) - Posts: 2503 - 29/01/2014 11:38:40    1538195

If you argue that point then re-fix the down league to weekends then. Problem solved, or is the big ball game too precious to move around for the benefit of both codes?

DownAndOut (Down) - Posts: 344 - 29/01/2014 16:13:02    1538398

THE ulster league will do nothing but deter hurling throughout ulster, get rid of it, its a fallacy to believe its any other thing than a mechanism put in place to allow all ulster county gaa boards to wash their hands of running hurling(bar antrim).

Absolute lunacy.

DownAndOut (Down) - Posts: 344 - 29/01/2014 16:15:26    1538399

Its is my belief but i havent seen it confirmed that the following Derry clubs will compete in Ulster League
Slaughtneil,Swatragh,Lynches,Banagher,Screen,Lavey and Eoghan Rua Coleraine.
Na Magha arent entering, they have entered Antrim again.

christy sting (Derry) - Posts: 262 - 30/01/2014 13:37:42    1538748

Heated debate on hurling league last night in the Burrendale. CCC now say they WILL organise a Down league and clubs will be asked if they want to join it.

I know Castlewellan would rather play in a Down league with home and away fixtures. The Ards IIIs will also be involved. Who else?

Frank Mitchell (Down) - Posts: 1082 - 21/02/2014 10:37:43    1549519

I'm sure most clubs would be still open to a Down League as long as games are fixed for weekends.. What's the point of playing Monday night matches when teams are missing lads due unavailability such as uni, long commutes to work etc. I think its the weekend matches that the Ulster league has most going for it..

dingle82 (Down) - Posts: 231 - 21/02/2014 10:52:46    1549529